IoT RFID technology can ensure the safety of prepared dishes

The market demand for prepared dishes (or semi-finished dishes) is showing a rapid growth trend. According to Tmall data, sales of prepared dishes increased by 111% year-on-year, while sales of new convenience foods such as self-heating hot pot increased by more than 50%. This kind of food not only provides convenience to consumers, but also meets the needs of modern people's fast-paced life. However, the industry still faces many challenges. There is still a gap between the quality and taste of prepared dishes and traditional cooking, and vicious competition and the absence of unified industry standards may affect consumers' health.

Although prepared dishes have many advantages, volatility in ingredient prices, food safety issues, and restrictions on their production and distribution are all challenges faced by this industry. At present, the prepared vegetable industry mostly adopts workshop-style processing, the equipment and technology are backward, and the quality control and management system need to be improved urgently. In order to ensure the food safety of consumers, the prepared food industry needs to introduce advanced technical means to ensure food quality and traceability.

Prepared dishes have extremely high requirements for freshness, but my country’s cold chain market is still not mature enough. Compared with developed countries, China's cold chain circulation rate is lower and the corruption rate is higher. In the production process of prepared dishes, temperature control and preservation are key, especially in the dangerous temperature zone of 8℃-60℃, where the growth rate of bacteria accelerates.

The preservation of prepared dishes relies on cold chain technology. Without advanced cold chain logistics and transportation technology, the freshness of ingredients during transportation will be greatly reduced. However, since 2021, a number of policies have encouraged the construction of cold chain infrastructure and the development of cold chain logistics, hoping to strengthen the supply system of prepared dishes in this way.

Through RFID technology, temperature information can be received in real time during cold chain transportation, and possible abnormalities can be processed in a timely manner, thus reducing losses. RFID technology can work in various harsh environments and achieve rapid identification of multiple tags. In order to better utilize the advantages of RFID technology in cold chain logistics, temperature sensors have been integrated into RFID electronic tags to achieve real-time temperature monitoring.

RFID electronic tags integrated with temperature sensors are a breakthrough for the management of medicines, food, body care products and other items. Its compact shape allows it to be easily attached to various objects. It ensures that temperature-sensitive products are kept in an appropriate low-temperature environment during production, storage, transportation and sales, thereby ensuring product quality. Moreover, these tags can not only report their own identity, but also transmit information such as temperature and humidity, making the connection between objects more intelligent.

In the storage process of refrigerated logistics, traditional inspection methods often require manual counting one by one, but using RFID technology can automatically and quickly complete the counting. In addition, RFID technology can also monitor the temperature of cold storage in real time to ensure the quality of goods.

In the outbound process of items, raw materials are transported from the cold storage to the processing workshop according to production needs. The RFID reading and writing equipment at the door of the cold storage automatically records all outbound actions and collates them with outbound tasks, saving time and improving work efficiency. At the front end of the conveyor belt, the RFID Reader reads the RFID electronic tag of the raw material, obtains the unique code number and associates it with the subsequent processed product information. The finished product is Stored and linked to the raw materials to ensure traceability, and then transported to cold storage to await sale. During the entire process from warehousing to delivery, RFID technology is used to complete the process from loading to inspection and delivery, improving efficiency, saving time and improving storage security. After leaving the warehouse, the goods are delivered by refrigerated trucks to the designated delivery point.

During the transportation of items, RFID temperature tags can not only continue to work for a long time, but also can be reused. In order to monitor temperature in real time, refrigerated trucks need to be equipped with RFID readers and wireless communication devices. In this way, managers can receive temperature information in real time and deal with possible abnormalities in a timely manner, thereby reducing losses.

In the sales process, merchants use RFID systems to understand the status of goods, optimize inventory management and improve efficiency. RFID technology provides accurate business data and solves the problem of product out-of-stock and loss. Its traceability and real-time temperature monitoring enhance consumer confidence, meet the needs of "green food consumption" and improve corporate competitiveness.

RFID technology provides automatic tracking, monitoring temperature, optimizing inventory management, improving logistics efficiency, and ensuring food quality and safety. Combined with other logistics technologies, it will cause fundamental changes in the cold and fresh food industry. Looking to the future, relying on the characteristics of RFID passive technology combined with richer application scenarios will further empower the development of the food industry.

However, the introduction of RFID management systems also faces some challenges and difficulties. The first is the cost issue. The introduction of RFID technology requires a certain amount of funds to be invested in the purchase of RFID electronic tags, the installation of RFID equipment and the development of the system. Secondly, there are technical issues. RFID technology may be interfered in complex environments, leading to instability in data transmission. In addition, the application of RFID technology also needs to cooperate with relevant regulatory agencies and industry standards to ensure the compliance and reliability of the system.